This is true. Mine only has one fender logo, tiny as it is, but eh I guess I've fallen for the marketing hype.
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Poll : Fender Free?
- Thread starter MrBassman17
- Start date
This is true. Mine only has one fender logo, tiny as it is, but eh I guess I've fallen for the marketing hype.
fender free these days. Fender makes a decent bass for a decent price. I think the biggest reason I'm not a fan is that they are so common and so similar after all these years that I now look at them as somewhat generic.
I'll never be Fender Free, all my basses are Fenders/Squiers or speak a dialect of Leo. You can click on my profile page for a detailed list.
In short, actual Fenders/Squiers: 2 J's, 2 P's, a Mudbucker Tele and a Bass VI.
Riffs on Fenders: G&L El Toro (J derivative), Ibanez RB630 (P), Ibanez RB820 & 920 (Stingray derivative), 1999 Carvin BB75 (J style), 2 SF Peavey Foundations (J).
My GASsy short list has more Fendery products: a Peavey T45 (P/L1000 derivative), and actual Stingray HH/Sabre/L2000 on it.
In short, actual Fenders/Squiers: 2 J's, 2 P's, a Mudbucker Tele and a Bass VI.
Riffs on Fenders: G&L El Toro (J derivative), Ibanez RB630 (P), Ibanez RB820 & 920 (Stingray derivative), 1999 Carvin BB75 (J style), 2 SF Peavey Foundations (J).
My GASsy short list has more Fendery products: a Peavey T45 (P/L1000 derivative), and actual Stingray HH/Sabre/L2000 on it.
I'd like to think I noticed a sonic change!
I actually haven't gigged it yet. Band practice this week should be telling. Although I honestly don't think it's going to make a huge difference. But, for me, if there is any chance ANY mojo is going to be trapped under a thick finish I will open up that finish and set the mojo free!
But really, the reason I refinished it is I really don't like the thick Urethane plastic feel of the original finish. I don't want to shell out hundred's more for lacquer finish (that's not even nitro) or go for the even more expensive road worn finish.
With my own nitro finish I can let the bass wear on it's own with my own personal love marks.
I've only been playing a fraction of that time, but lately I find myself gravitating to Fender Jazz basses. For some reason, they just hit home lately and I love them..looking for anyone for the collection right now actually!
I can attest to my band mate stripping a thick finish off of a few solidbody guitars, spraying on a very thin lacquer finish and having a noticeable change in the acoustic tone. It's parallel to the 'blanket on speakers' analogy.
Zero relation to anything of Leo's in my stable. I only have two basses, both acoustic. The Martin does have a pup, but I doubt Leo would recognize it. The other is closer to a 1/4 DB than a bass guitar....takes a cello case to hold it.
I think you hit on the two main reasons for doing so. A thinner finish that feels different and the fact that the modern finishes are so tough that it'd take a much longer time to put on arm wear etc. I have a roadworn j and the finish somehow feels different.
Are they the last word in design and tone?, no not at all. But, they are THE tone of nearly all the music that I grew up listening to. I think that's the big draw for me, as well as the fact that the ergonomics for such a simple "flat plank" design are either close to perfection or I've just gotten so used to them that everything else feels weird.
Does the acoustic tone give a major indication of what the tone will be plugged in with pickups and an amp?
In blind tests, people have a much harder time hearing things when they can't see the change.
I'm fairly sure that commercially manufactured basses have always gotten sanding sealer before paint of any kind and the pores of the wood are sealed before the first coat of paint goes on.
So, when Fender talks about certain retro paint finishes letting the wood breathe, I get a little suspicious of it being a marketing ploy in response to long standing customer generated rumors.
There are basses that were rumored to be maple bodied and people liked them, when it was found out that the bass was plywood, everybody was way less enamored with it....same bass it always was but the used prices for them went way down.
Lots of people seem to like the sound of basswood guitars and basses, until they find out they are basswood.
We all know there are a number of things that contribute to the sound of an electric bass, I wonder how far down that list the type of paint is?
Pickup type, and brand, and number
Amp type and brand and settings
Strings, lots of variation
Bridge type and metals that are used
Nut material
Fretboard wood species or not in the case of CF necks
Body wood species and the specific piece or pieces chosen
Scale length
Bolt on, set neck, neck through
Fingers or pick or slappy thumb
Effects used and/or no effects
Paint type or no paint at all
100% Fender free and has always been, the closest I ever got was owning a Tokai Stratocatser guitar clone at some point as well as I at some point secretly dreamed of owning a Fender Bass VI.
It doesn't matter as much as say an all acoustic instrument, but the "quality" of the unamplified tone will show through in the end. If there's a big suckout in the midrange or somewhere else,it's pretty hard to work around that. That's why old Strats with pickups wound by Abigail Ybarra are not necessarily all going to be memorable instruments. The wood is the big variable and you can't really tell until it's all put together. How many times have you heard "I played a custom shop bass and it sounded like crap". If I had a dollar for every time I read that...
I have an interesting bass that rings out very piano like acoustically.
It is 35" scale and has a carbon fiber bolt on neck with a Pau Ferro fretboard, and the body is basswood, with one wide aperture pickup in the neck position (P placement) and active 3 band electronics, and the bridge is a conventional Gotoh 201B surface mount.
So, what is it about this bass that makes it ring out that way?
Is it the 35" scale, the carbon fiber neck, the Pau Ferro fretboard, the basswood body, the thick urethane paint.....or?
Really hard to tell, I'm not going to really wonder about the type of paint until a whole other list of stuff is considered.
Why did they choose basswood on such a fancy bass?
Why did they choose a wood fretboard on the CF neck?
I'm just saying that paint can't possibly matter a whole lot.
I wasn't commenting so much about the finish, but more to the fact that they're still guitars,and still have to "sound good ",if they're going to sound good. In your case I'd guess the longer string length combined with the cf/pau ferro neck are the driving factors in what you are perceiving.
I have two awesome Fenders (72 J and 74 P) but never play them as I play 5ers exclusively with my current band.
I will never sell either so I will likely never be "Fender free".
I will never sell either so I will likely never be "Fender free".
Those two will just keep appreciating in value anyway if looked after. l I would caution you to periodically pull them out and play them and tweak the truss rod from time to time so that they don't freeze up or the necks become bowed.
I am Fender-free at this time. However, I do own a bass from the Leo Fender lineage: Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray 5 H. The last Fender bass I owned was a Precision American Deluxe V with a humbucker bridge pickup. The said Precision is the one bass instrument that I regret selling, as I was planning to repurchase another one in the future but it was discontinued.
My lack of a Fender bass might change soon, due to the fact that I am seriously debating, internally, whether or not to purchase a black/maple Fender American Elite Jazz V bass.
In regards to guitars, I do own a Fender American Standard Stratocaster and Telecaster.
My lack of a Fender bass might change soon, due to the fact that I am seriously debating, internally, whether or not to purchase a black/maple Fender American Elite Jazz V bass.
In regards to guitars, I do own a Fender American Standard Stratocaster and Telecaster.
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